07/16/2012
Disclaimer: If I owned Toei, would I be writing stories here? Come on now.
FanAuthor's Note: Let's see how long it takes to get this chapter out. Place your bets, people who will only see this when it's actually posted (this entire note is pointless, now I feel silly).
Also, I would like to thanks those who have so far reviewed the last few chapters, as it helps me know what to work on, and what you guys like so far.
Chapter 10: Mad Wind
/Hyperlink Town
Leomon emerged from the Saloon accompanied by Starmon and Blue Deputymon. Some Chuchidarumon, five Togemon and a herd of Centarumon (is that the politically correct thing to say, herd? Is it offensive to refer to a group of centaurs that way?) were still in town, and formed up alongside the three emerging from the Alluring Lilymon Saloon. Leomon spotted a JungleMojyamon speaking with a Clockmon, and when the two locked eyes the JungleMojyamon broke off his conversation and went over to greet Leomon, shaking hands with him.
"Shin, you old hairball! Seems like we can never catch break, can we?"
"Indeed. Reminds me of the time I had to convince the Centaurmon you hadn't tried to vandalize their AncientTroiamon statue."
"Yeah, they were mighty pissed about that. Forgive me for shedding, it's hot at their camp."
Leomon looked to see that the Clockmon, a hive of SandYanmamon, and a cluster of Hagurumon retreat off into the desert, the Clockmon being the only one to look back as he did. J-Mojyamon patted Leomon's shoulder, turning to face the other end of town as he did, where dust could be seen being kicked up by approaching forces.
"Hey, we can't expect all of them to fight."
"I know; I was the one who gave the order for those not residing in town to return home. It's fine, since we got an old fart like you to sort these guys out if things go south."
"You expect things to go any other way?"
"One can always hope. Besides, Fugamon is the most reasonable of the Ogremon Brothers."
The lead Centarumon and J-Mojyamon gave Leomon a concerned look.
"Reasonable? He once snapped a Shamanmon in half for eating a fruit on a Tuesday, then proceeded to torture that mon's brother for not doing it the next Tuesday."
"For them, being crazy makes him more reasonable. He might be convinced to not attack us."
The Centarumon snorted.
"Sure, if today was Tuesday."
Ignoring his worried companion, the lion Digimon proceeded forwards, when Starmon caught him by his arm.
"I took this off the altar before coming up. Wanted to make sure your friend doesn't act on his desire to disobey you."
He presented Colin's D-Arc, to which Leomon chuckled a little while nursing his temples.
"He's going to blame me for taking it. Like I don't already have enough things to look forward to. Oh well, those two really do need to stay where they are."
Centarumon once again spoke.
"Shouldn't we have them out here helping, especially if they want to as it is? We could use any help available, what with this being a sad little town that it is."
Leomon shot the horse man a dirty look.
"You should know very well that newborns are in no fit condition to fight, especially not Champions like Fugamon. How can you even suggest that?!"
Standing his ground and not cowering under Leomon's gaze, the head Centarumon answered.
"Revived Digimon are not newborns. They still have all the data their old lives had, or as much as could be restored. You know this as well as I. Ignoring the fact that he could easily be as strong as he was before, or even stronger due to Starmon's exceptional treatments, Kumamon has a human partner. Human partners tend to come with weapons and power-ups to supply their Digimon. That is an advantage that we'd be foolish to keep locked in a basement."
"Just as foolish as it is to push a recently revived Digimon back into action without giving them time to rest properly and be sure that they are functioning at maximum potential. And the child's name is Maul; he's chosen to be identified as such. Respect that."
Snorting once more, the head Centarumon stamped his front hoofs, clearly annoyed.
"I refuse to play this game of naming ourselves like the humans, Leomon. We are Digimon, fully capable of identify our own and not needing any identification outside of our species. I am a Centarumon, as powerful as any other Centarumon and proud of it; and you are a Leomon. Not Shin, or 'Simba', or 'Alley cat'. This need to emulate humans is not as popular amongst us as you think."
Resisting the urge to slightly singe the centaur, Leomon once again turned towards the outskirts of the town and proceeded to walk towards the invading force. A Togemon came up to him, speaking in a friendly voice.
"Don't mind old metal hooves there. Some of us are just stressed by our situation."
"I am as aware of our situation as you are."
"We know that, but acting more like the humans who put us in this situation isn't exactly going to win you many allies, Shin."
"But you're okay with my name?"
"It's a name, what real harm is it? Not like you went and named yourself 'Bristly MutherFuc-"
"I get the idea."
"Anyway, were you actually serious about the whole 'appeal to Fugamon' thing?"
Taking a deep breath, Leomon explained.
"Look, obviously the chances of him agreeing not to raze our town to the ground are very slim. But Centarumon has a point about the boy and Maul. They would be advantageous to getting rid of these marauders."
"So you are going to put them in play."
"Not immediately. We need to draw out the fight for as long as possible, till I'm sure they're ready to fight again."
"So basically our plan is to throw our bodies out till your 'Digidestined' is up to fighting again?"
Togemon seemed less pleased with this plan then the 'appeasing' one. Leomon shook is head to reassure him.
"No, and he's no 'Digidestined'. I don't believe in that any more than you do. But he is a Tamer, and from what I've seen of him so far he's a decent one."
"Not enough to avoid having his partner deleted by Hyogamon, from what I hear."
"He was protecting a friend when that happened. Which only goes to prove his character, and why we should allow him and Maul the time they need to actually get ready before throwing their bodies out as our sacrificial meat shield, as you would have them."
"Hey, I have no beef with your human friend. I just rather he fight with us now instead of riding in on ceremony, or not at all. I don't like the idea of relying too much on one person. If they're going to be of use, then use them, don't pamper them. That's something most of us don't get to do for our own."
Nodding, as he knew too well of what little privileges he and the other 'anomalies' could afford when constantly under attack, either by human forces or by other, violent Digimon, Leomon continued onwards, seeing that Togemon had nothing else to say.
Behind him, Starmon was chatting away with the Chuchidarumon.
"We'll need you six to cover both sides when we get up there. Want to make sure that your earth-moving powers can get them from both ends, and properly set up a wall of dirt if we need to retreat."
Nodding, the Chuchidarumon relayed the message back to his group. Starmon looked ahead, and could make out the shape of a Shamanmon seated upon the backs of four others. He was gnawing at a bone, looking rather bored. Starmon sighed as they paced on, an organized group of assorted Digimon. Something tells me he isn't going to play nice.
/Bootsector Forest, 3 hours spent.
Four familiar characters cautiously strode through the dark, foul forest, with a small blue lizard and an animate candle taking the lead. The two humans were not facing each other, and the boy seemed visibly annoyed by the girl's silence.
"So we're just not going to talk to each other for the remainder of our time here?"
Asami didn't respond and just kept on walking, proving his point.
"What do you want, an apology? For what, being a hacker? Or are you still convinced that I had something to do with both of us becoming members of the game Admin.'s most wanted list?"
She still didn't speak, but raised an eyebrow as if to say 'well didn't you'? Dmitri struggled to keep from cursing out in annoyance.
"Look, for the last time. They went after you first, because of your faulty Digimon-"
It was Kotemon's turn to resist the urge to do something unpleasant, though his ideas were more brutal than rude.
"-and then they noticed that I was downloading their hidden дерьмо (shit), and then and only then did they come after me. You brought this about, not me."
"Asami didn't cause this. I simply spoke more than I should have in the presence of the Elders. And be careful of who you call 'faulty'."
Remembering the reaction DinoHyumon had had back at Mirror Lake to similar comments he had made then, Dmitri clammed up for a while. Candlemon shot Kotemon a dirty look, but then came to a stop and intensified the flame on his head. Kotemon similarly paused, grabbing hold of his shinai in caution. Asami stopped as well and addressed her partner.
"What's up?"
"We are being watched."
"I told you we should have found another route."
Kotemon sighed as Candlemon's irritated side came out.
"Bootsector is the quickest way away from Popsicle Town, and we had little where else to land before we de-digivolved back. You knew what to expect."
"We could easily have gone back to Mirror Lake."
"And we'd still be surrounded by hostile Digimon. At least here you're not the only with an advantage."
Dmitri cut into to the two Digimon's little spat.
"I sorry, who's watching us exactly?"
"Posion Thread!"
Making sure to knock their partners out of the way of a line of purple webbing, Kotemon and Candlemon dove onto Asami and Dmitri respectively and covered them as they got back up, glaring and growling at the trees surrounding them as enemy Digimon descended.
The one responsible for the web-line was a humanoid black spider Digimon, which appeared to be pulling its orange hair out in constant frustration. On its back was a large painted on skull and crossbones, like the ones found on poisonous items. A couple more Digimon like this descended from the surrounding trees, accompanied by some giant roach like Digimon, and a round red masked Digimon with a blade on it back, which was also whirling a shuriken.
"Recognize any of them, Asami?"
"The spiders are Dokugumon, the roaches are just Roachmon, and that little ninja over there is Igamon, or Ninjamon for English speakers."
"Well I usually speak Russian at home, but since we both only know English between us…"
"We'll call him Ninjamon then."
'Ninjamon' did not like being spoken about, as he unsheathed his blade and pointed it at the two.
"What are you two soft-skins doing walking in our forest?"
"Now now, Ninjamon, leave the lovely couple be. They ain't hurting nobody."
Asami blushed a little and faced away from Dmitri, arms crossed and a little annoyed at the accusation, while Dmitri just remained stoned-faced and answered bluntly.
"We are not a couple, roach."
The insect Digimon's smile faded, and his wings started buzzing menacingly as he and his two fellows descended upon them.
"That's Roachmon to you, you idiotic blood bag. I was just on your side a moment ago."
"Look, do you really want to go through with this little routine? You would attack us, we'd retaliate, and Candlemon here would turn you to cinder in about five minutes. Maybe six if we're feeling generous. But, since we're in a hurry and you all seem to have busy lives, we could forego the 'let's you and me fight' scenario and you can step aside and let us pass."
In answer, Ninjamon and some Dokugumon launched a volley of attacks.
"Dancing Leaves!"
"Venom Blast!"
"Posion Thread!"
A gale of razor sharp leaves surrounding a thrown shuriken; a couple of purple poisonous clouds, and multiple web lines flew towards the four travelers. This time the tamers dodged unaided, as their partners did the same but while moving towards their attackers.
"Hot Head!"
"Flame Bomber!"
The two struck back at the Digimon hiding up in the trees. Three Dokugumon avoided Candelmon's fireballs, while a fourth fell back as it caught on fire and began to flay around in pain on the forest floor. The target of Kotemon's attack was Ninjamon, who blocked the overhead strike but had to fan his arm as it caught fire. Kotemon landed near the flaying Dokugumon and bounced back over to his tamer, his shinai raised in defense as their enemies swarmed around them.
"This is going to get ugly real fast if we don't digivolve."
"Kotemon, could you just ask for us to help you, without the attitude?"
"Yes, I could."
Deciding to continue this discussion over Kotemon's attitude later, Asami ignored him and reached for her Digivolution card, with Dmitri imitating her. He saw that his card was still blacked out, something Asami didn't notice until after she swiped her card through.
Time Remaining Until Card's Recharged: 5 minutes.
"Oh shove it up your-"
"Poison Thread!"
Dmitri tackled Asami to the ground, a line of razor sharp purple webbing passing over their heads as they thudded on the ground. Asami looked up at Dmitri, annoyance visible all over her face.
"How many times today are you all going to knock me down?"
"Hey, if you want to be logged out early, I will gladly stop helping you. Though I doubt you want to deal with MAGAMI security any more than I do."
Getting back on their feet, the two saw Kotemon struggling against Ninjamon, and Candlemon being surrounded by the Dokugumon and Roachmon. Glaring at the opposing Digimon, Asami moved to help, but Dmitri held her back with one arm.
"Hey, what exactly do you plan on doing? Just use a Weak Code, and our cards will start working again."
Smacking herself on the side of her head for not thinking clearly, Asami moved her hand over to her wrist-mounted D-Arc, before noticing that one of the Dokugumon was targeting them again.
"Oh no you don't! Poison Thread!"
This time it was her turn to knock the 21-year-old onto the ground, smiling a little as she did so. He looked up less amused.
"Okay, how about we just call out when we see someone targeting us instead of knocking each other down?"
"Sounds like a plan."
Again, the two tried to use one their remaining Weak Codes, but a small round shadow appearing behind them had other ideas.
"Iga Style: Sword Draw!"
"Thunder Kote!"
Asami turned around to see Ninjamon appear behind Kotemon, who had suddenly dropped his shinai as slash marks appeared on his front, causing streams of data to fly up like blood.
"A rookie like you should know his place."
"Kotemon!"
Using the time Kotemon had bought them to activate one of his last Weak Codes, Dmitri blindly pulled a card from his deck.
"Candlemon, help him out!"
Digi-Modify: Kunemon Activate!
The Roachmon chuckled as they heard this.
"What was that you were saying earlier, about how you'd reduce us to cinder in only five minutes?"
"Electro Thread!"
The Roachmon and two of his companions found themselves being wrapped up by yellow webbing, which soon proceeded to electrocute them thoroughly.
"What of it? Nothing's changed since then."
Having survived the Rookie level attack, the roach Digimon glared at the offending candle. Not backing down from their gaze, he hissed back.
"You're not the only one who can shoot webbing. Poison Thread!"
Realizing too late that he had been paying too much attention to the Roachmon, Candlemon now found that he was wrapped in webs. These ones were purple in color, and Candlemon felt his strength ebbing away as he tried to struggle free.
"Candlemon, you have to burn yourself free!"
A Dokugumon aimed at Dmitri from its perch up in a tree.
"You keep quiet! Poison Thread!"
Quickly side-stepping the attack, Dmitri bit his lip a little as a line of webbing slashed his right arm.
Why does that hurt? Is this what happened to Colin when he was fighting Hyogamon?
/Basement of the Alluring Lilymon Saloon
Deputymon sat in a rocking chair, guns still pointed at his 'guests', Colin and Kumamon. Colin eyed the giant gun Digimon coldly, while Maul fidgeted about, looking all over the basement for things to do. Coming to the lab's computers in the back, Maul was about to climb on top of one of the consoles, when Deputymon started to take shots near his feet.
"Please don't go and touch anything; Starmon will just blame me for whatever you wreck."
"Well maybe Starmon and Shin shouldn't have left to annoyed fighters near their sensitive tech."
Deputymon briefly locked eyes with the irate Tamer, but turned away when his gaze started to unnerve him.
"Well see, look here. It was for your own good, you heard Leomon. No need to be unpleasant about it."
"Trust me; you haven't seen me being unpleasant just yet. Let us go, and you won't have to find out what that's like."
Maul laughed a little at the thought of Colin throwing a fit, tossing this about and throttling Deputymon Looney Tunes style.
Deputymon sweatdropped and made a mental note not to be the one left behind with people he had just ticked off with one of his 'friendly' welcoming games.
"Uh, hey Colin. You got a minute?"
"What, Lucky?"
"Um, yeah; your friends Dmitri and Asami are in a bit of a spot. Normally I would give a damn about that, but since Dmitri has something I need, I'm going to have to leave you and Shin without my lovely fairy godmother advice for a while."
"What?! No, don't leave, you still have my body strapped in the chair!"
"Don't worry, no one knows where you are, and the place is a little hard to get into if you don't know what you're doing."
"You are not leaving me alone in your sketchy-ass den."
Not getting a response, Colin cursed aloud in anger.
"Oh that mother-fuc"
/Blistering Path
Leomon's group were well a way down the path outside of Hyperlink Town, and some of them could make out the approaching horde of Shamanmon headed their way. J-Mojyamon was the first to spot their leader.
"Leomon, Centarumon, I think I see Fugamon. Or at least the Shamanmon who can achieve that form."
Centarumon galloped up besides J-Mojyamon, his interested earned.
"Where is he?"
"The one being held up by four others on that tribal chief seat."
Having apparently better eyes than the assembled force, J-Mojyamon managed to make out a group of Shamanmon labor away to carry a rather lazy looking Shamanmon perched on a throne of bones. Leomon took the lead as the two groups started to get closer to one another.
"Centarumon, send one of your heard back to town, and give him these to take back to Colin. If my way doesn't work, then we might just need him and Maul after all."
"What's made you change your mind? It's barely been 10 minutes since we last discussed this."
"Something seems off about Shamanmon's attitude. Sure, he's insane, but he's never one to look bored when attacking others. I want Colin and Maul to be ready to escape properly if anything, but we'll just have to wait and see."
Motioning for one of his herd to come forth, Centarumon retrieved Colin's D-Arc and card deck and gave them to his messenger, relaying what Leomon had said back to him. The messenger took for town immediately, and Centarumon returned his attention to what lay in front of him.
The horde of red Goblimon cousins stopped a few feet in front of their opposing greeters. They flashed their tusks and waved their bone clubs about, until the head Shamanmon yawned and waved for them to cease, which they did immediately. Getting up, he leapt off his throne and walked to the front of his horde, scratching the back of his head as he approached. Reaching the head of his force, he stopped and spoke.
"Why are the targets coming to greet us? They don't even look scared while doing so?"
Another Shamanmon, head bowed, answered his chieftain.
"Uh sir, I think they're here to fight us before we reach their town."
"Actually, we're were hoping you would-"
Leomon was cut off by the head Shamanmon, who turned away from him and addressed the other Shamanmon.
"You didn't tell me that in a joke form. It's Thursday, why didn't you make it a joke?"
"So-sorry sir, I just thought that you wanted to know-"
"Mad Twist!"
Bringing his club behind his head, the head Shamanmon swung and launched a purple ring of energy at the offending speaker, slicing the poor mon in half. Absorbing his lackey's data, he returned to face Leomon.
"Annoying when people don't follow simple rules, isn't it? So what exactly are you out here for, kitty-cat?" If you want to get right to licking my feet clean, I'm afraid you'll have to wait till 6 to do that. I can't stand being cleaned earlier than that, so we'll just get on with razing your town to the ground, and collaring the lot of you."
Restraining himself, Leomon answered back.
"Actually, you probably shouldn't do that."
"What? I shouldn't do what?"
"Try and take our town. That's so boring, and predictable. I mean, bringing a horde of vicious thugs and using them to attack a small town that's out of your way and not bothering you? It's so clichéd, and very human. You're not a boring human, are you Shamanmon?"
"Well of course not, but-"
"So then you won't just attack us, right? Why not put on a circus and leave, or help us clean up the place. It could use a nice spring cleaning, and having your traveling group of thugs help would be unexpected and noteworthy. People would talk a lot more about how you had your gang clean up a town than you having them burn it to cinder."
"I guess that would be more-"
"Oh Come On, boss!"
Shamanmon turned to see a Gotsumon push his way forward, anger making his face appear red.
"Are you actually listening to this furball? He's just trying to trick you into leaving. Leomon knows you're not all there, and is trying to take advanta-"
"What do you mean, 'not all there'?"
The surrounding Shamanmon moved away from the Gotsumon, who just realized that he said more than he meant to. Taking a step back as he noticed the menacing look in his leader's eyes, he tried pleading with the glowing Shamanmon.
"Well no, what I meant to say was that he-"
"You think I'm crazy?"
"No boss, it's just that you occasionally do things that others might see as-"
"YOU THINK I'M CRAZY!"
Had a Tamer with a D-Arc been present, the device would be shouting Warning: Wild Digimon Digivolution!
Shamanmon…digivolve to…Fugamon!
Towering over the scared Gotsumon, Fugamon glared viciously, tapping the poor Digimon's head with his bone club.
"I simply, don't want to be confused, with either that boring git Hyogamon, may his data rest in the swamp, or that show-off Orgemon. So occasionally you idiots don't seem to appreciate or understand the rules I set up to add value to your lives and separate you from the common Digimon. Does that make me crazy? Does getting rid of those who can't follow simple rules make me insane, or simply efficient? Maybe even responsible, since I want to set a proper example to the rest as to how you all should be acting. But crazy? Now is that fair, Gotsumon?"
"I guess, sir."
"You guess. That's it? No joke?"
"Well I guess it makes sense, if you were a Platypusmon, sir?"
Staring silently at the sheepish rock Digimon for a minute, Fugamon brought his fist back and quietly called out his attack.
"Evil Hurricane!"
A purple gale of ominous wind ripped the rookie apart, leaving only pebbles and then data left, which Fugamon quickly absorbed.
"That was such a week joke."
Leomon, having motioned for the Centarumon herd to flank around the horde while they were distracted by their boss' antics, and keeping the Chuchidarumon near him along with the Togemon and J-Mojyamon, spoke again to clearly unbalanced tribe leader.
"Back to what we were discussing; if you don't want to be confused with either Orgemon or Hyogamon, maybe…"
"I should just delete you now and cease with the banter? Yeah, that actually seems like a great idea."
"You can try."
"Oh I do better than that, Felix. I'll just do it. Evil Hurricane!"
"Centarumon, now! Fist of the Beast King!"
As the two attacks clashed, the Shamanmon suddenly noticed the herd of centaur Digimon that had surrounded them on either side and were aiming their arm cannons at them.
"Hunting Cannon!"
That attack was all many Shamanmon heard before being greeted with a laser beam to the face. Some were instantly deleted by this attack, while others were strong enough to survive, albeit with their form destabilizing a bit and others losing tucks and feeling in their arms. There were still plenty of uninjured Shamanmon, and those in the center of the horde volleyed their attacks over their comrades at the edges.
"Mad Twist! Mad Twist!"
Energy rings peppered the ground before the Centarumon, as well as clipping a few, though none of them did any permanent damage. Back in the front, Leomon was directly engaging Fugamon, clashing his sword with Fugamon's club. The Togemon were making short work of the Shamanmon, but were having problems with the Gotsumon.
"Lightspeed Jabbing! Lightspeed Jabbing!"
"Rock Fist!"
"Well kitty, I must say you have a nice little militia here."
"Thanks. It helps that they all can reach Champion on their own, and not hog the power and delete their friends who make it as well."
"Is that meant to be at a jab at me, for how my brothers and I run things? Please, it's the only way to run a group. The strong lead, the weak follow. If everyone's strong, then who's in charge? Who organizes? And more importantly, where's the fun in that?"
"Sometimes I wonder if you're really crazy, or just incredibly stupid."
"I am not crazy! Heavy Stick!"
"Stupid it is then. Beast Sword!"
/Bootsector Forest, 3 hours and 20 minutes spent.
Tired and hurt, Kotemon and Candlemon backed in to each other as Roachmon and Dokugumon moved in on them. Asami and Dmitri weren't doing much better, being unable to activate a card or weak code to restore the cards they had used because of the constant attacks coming from the surrounding Digimon. Ninjamon came up to them, pointing his blade at them.
"We already let a Tamer by here, and he was with Shin. You two aren't as lucky. Not just anyone gets to waltz through here and expect to make it out unscathed."
Ignoring the Digimon, Dmitri spoke to Asami over his shoulder.
"Since it looks like we're about to be logged off forcefully, here's what I suggest we do. Tell me what floor your VR terminal is, and after I knock aside whatever security is waiting for me in reality, you and me split. I have a friend who can shelter us until MAGAMI stops being interested in you."
"…As nice as that is, that won't be necessary. I not actually at the arcade with you guys."
"Well of course you are, how else can you be playing the game?"
"I have a personal terminal where I live."
"Yeah, right; do you know how much those things cost?"
"$860,700, if you ignore the bill you'd get for the amount of power the machine requires."
"…you're parents are loaded, are they?"
"It's not something I like to talk about."
"Well I guess I really am all by my lonesome then. Colin's not here and you apparently were never here."
"Actually, when you see Colin, could you tell him to meet me tomorrow as Columbus Circle? Around 9 or 10 o'clock."
"So now I'm your match-maker?"
Blushing a bit, she punched his arm.
"Just tell him, would ya?!"
"Fine, whatever. Oh great, it looks like the ninja's finished monologing."
This caused Ninjamon to stamp his foot in frustration.
"Ignore me, will you? Dancing Leaves!"
"Asami!" cried Kotemon, still concerned about his Tamer as he saw the attack being launched at her. Candlemon turned to see that his Tamer was in danger as well, and a look of terror came upon his face.
Launching his attack directly, the shuriken was suddenly stopped by raining spikes.
"Caltrops!"
Appearing in front of the two Tamers, a blue/purple pallet swap of Ninjamon stood there, grinning at his counterpart.
"Really need to learn to control that temper of yours, Ninjamon. I can't always be here to keep you from doing something stupid."
"You! Kougamon, what are you doing here?!"
Dmitri suddenly felt his mounted D-Arc grow warm, and it started to hum as a different, more familiar voice came out of it.
"Is this thing on? Dmitri buddy, are you there?"
"Lucky?"
Asami turned and looked at the D-Arc, confused as much as everyone else present.
"Who?"
Ninjamon dashed toward Kougamon, who calmly waited for his opponent to approach.
"Iga Style: Sword Draw!"
"Kouga Style: Shadow Clone!"
Ninjamon slashed through a fading Kougamon, and was greeted by the sight of three other Kougamon descending upon him, blades drawn. Lucky Mouse spoke again, not at all concerned about how his agent was faring.
"Dmitri, how are ya? Sorry, dumb question; your obviously doing terrible. I mean you fail your first in-game mission, you barely completed the one I sent you on…what's going on? You eat something weird, is that why your game is off this week?"
"It's a lot harder to multi-task downloading specs in such a weird way with your strange game pass and play the actual game when my Digimon is some sort of 'anomaly' that attracts unwanted attention."
Candlemon saddened upon hearing Dmitri refer to him as such; Lucky Mouse continued to speak.
"Yeah, about that; the independent Digimon thing isn't my doing. Though I can see how that could affect your work ethic. Strange, I didn't think the Digi-World would select you to receive a sentient partner. I mean, you've never been the believing type, and you're not the easiest person to be friends with. No offense."
"None taken. But don't tell me you've fallen for this sentient Digimon thing the game's been trying to force feed me."
"Fallen for it? Buddy, I knew about it before you knew that Virtual Reality was possible. Look, we'll talk later; I got Colin to look after…"
Both Dmitri and Asami spoke at the same time.
"Colin's with you?!"
"Not so loud, I'm at the hotel. Don't need you two giving away my position."
"What are you doing there?"
"Well someone has to distract the hotel security so that you can make it back to my place and not end up arrested."
"What about Asami? Can you help her too?"
Asami stayed quiet as Lucky answered for her.
"Your friend Ms. Kaneko knows full well that MAGAMI won't so much as bother her butler by knocking on her suite's door. She'll be fine, and able to play another day. You, on the other hand need to log off as soon as possible without losing Candlemon, and get your butt over to my place."
Looking to Asami for confirmation, who nodded, Dmitri took the time Kougamon was buying him and Asami fighting off Ninjamon to finally activate there weak codes and restore their deck.
"What's the plan, Lucky?"
"Swarms of BladeKuwagamon are going to distract this bunch. Follow Kougamon out of the forest to a path called the Blistering Path. You'll run into Colin and Kumamon- I mean Maul in the town at the path's end."
"I thought Maul was deleted," said Asami, though she was still happy that the hyper bear was okay.
"Well yeah, but there ways around silly things like 'death' here in the Digital World. At times, anyway."
Dmitri sighed and brought out his refreshed deck. My god, Lucky's gone native. Oh well, whatever keeps me out of jail.
He was about to slide a card through his D-Arc, when Lucky spoke again.
"By the way, don't bother digivolving your partners. Just give them a power boost to restore them and get ready to run."
Annoyed but complying, the two proceeded to slash their respective restorative cards through their digivices.
Digi-Modify: Stamina Activate!
Digi-Modify: Energy Activate!
Feeling repowered, Candlemon and Kotemon readied themselves for another fight, until Asami said otherwise.
"Guys, be ready to run. We can't take on the entire forest!"
Suddenly, a mechanical buzzing engulfed the forest, and a few of the combatant could make out sparking white figures in the distance, coming closer. Ninjamon looked at his grinning adversary, now legitimately frightened.
"What did you do, you stupid Kouga?"
"I may have disturbed a hive of BladeKuwagamon, and I might have done this while looking like a stupid red-masked ninja Digimon. You don't know anyone who looks like that, do you…oh. Oh you're screwed."
"Why you-no-good Kouga!"
Slashing at the empty air where Kougamon just was, Ninjamon saw that his opponent had left their engagement to once again stand beside the human Tamers.
"Time to go, follow me please."
Moving ahead, Kougamon motioned for the four to follow him, just as the first few BladeKuwagamon descended upon the assembled Dokugumon, Roachmon, and Ninjamon.
"Spark Blade! Air Knife!"
Either stabbing a nearby Digimon with an electrified knife or creating an air crescent similar to DinoHyumon's usual blade crescent attacks, the BladeKuwagamon fell upon their targets with little intention of showing mercy. As the four Tamers sped off away from the carnage, they could hear Ninjamon desperately try to ward them of with multiple 'Dancing Leaves" attacks.
/Hyperlink Town, the Alluring Lilymon Saloon's Basement
"Deputymon, send them up."
Surprised to hear a Centarumon addressing him, Deputymon got out of his rocking chair and opened the door upstairs, standing in the doorway to keep the two from going up till he spoke with the Digimon.
"What's up? Why would I do that?"
"Leomon's orders. Says to give the boy back his digivice and deck, and that he'll need them to help fight."
"Looks like you boys get to fight after all."
As Colin and Maul went by Deputymon on their way up, the boy gave the Digimon a look that meant 'sleep with one eye open', clearly showing that he's still pissed at the deputy for his hazing antic earlier.
Taking back his D-Arc and attaching to his left arm, Colin heard a voice he was half-pleased to hear once more.
"Yo Colin, glad you got your gear back. By the way, Dmitri and Asami are headed your way."
For a split second he was happy to hear that, until he remembered a piece of advice Shin had just given him earlier.
"Wait, why did you send them here? You know no one still playing is supposed to see me, right?"
"Well considering that they are both now wanted by the Game Admins as well, especially Dmitri, I didn't think it be a problem. Besides, your girl is real eager to see you again."
Blushing a little after hearing this, which caused Kumamon to giggle childishly at the sight, Colin quickly dismissed the idea.
"Asami's not my girl; I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Whatever. Anyway, they're coming, and you could use all the help you can get. Oh, and when your times up we're going to have to discuss and alibi for you, when I get Dmitri out of the hotel."
"What do you mean get Dmitri out-"
"We'll talk later, right now focus on helping Shin."
Not liking being told to shut up, Colin flipped up the sky as if Lucky was a god, and followed the Centarumon back to the battle, though he and Maul had trouble keeping up with the centaur, who seemed to not be willing to slow down a bit.
Once they were able to see the battle better, having moved closer, Colin pulled out a card for his deck and slide it through. Let's see if we can win this one.
Digi-Modify: Digivolution Activate!
Kumamon…digivolve to…Grizzlymon! Hah!
"You feeling up for this, Maul?"
"I'm fine, stop being such a wet blanket."
Smiling and seeing that his partner's attitude was intact, at the very least, the two rushed towards the fight eager to help. The first thing Grizzlymon did was pounce and land on top of a group of Shamanmon.
"Maul Attack!"
His claws glowing crimson red like before, Grizzlymon swung at a bunch of Shamanmon and severely wounded them. Worried for a second that Grizzlymon wasn't as strong as he used to be, Colin's fears were lifted by the bear's following attack.
"Crescent Dawn!"
Swinging his head and letting loose an energy crescent, the beam cut through the Shamanmon and reduced them to data. Five extra Shamanmon cards formed and flew towards Colin, who expertly caught each for the first time as his D-Arc gave a new, strange message.
Rogue Player claims 5 cards.
Please tell me that that's simply the digivice's new way of announcing when I get a card, and not reporting what I do back to MAGAMI. Since nothing seemed to happen a while after the D-Arc spoke, Colin hopefully assumed that nothing would come out of it. I better talk to Shin about this.
Speaking of which, Shin was holding his ground rather well against the red Hyogamon counterpart, though Fugamon wasn't exactly having a hard time himself. Both had sustained little injuries here and there, but nothing serious enough to give the other an advantage. Noticing the Tamer and his partner coming into the fight from the corner of his eye, the Orgemon Brothers' boss motioned for someone's attention.
"Golemon, take care of the flesh bag and his traitor-mon. Remember, no bantering!"
"…weren't you quipping away with Leomon a moment ago?"
"Golemon!"
"I'm going."
Leaping over to where Grizzlymon was pinning down two Gotsumon, Golemon swung his fist at the surprised grizzly.
"Rock Punch!"
Landing squarely in the middle of Maul's face, the poor bear was sent flying off the two Gotsumon. They went to praise their savior, only to be Gibbs slapped (NCIS) for their troubles.
"Idiots, should have been caught in the first place. Just here to finish him off, not save you."
Leaving them to their shame, as they cast their heads down, Golemon rushed at Maul, who was now ready for him and back on his feet. Colin also wasn't taking any chances with this lieutenant.
Digi-Modify: Wild Gloves Equipped!
Digi-Modify: Hyper Speed Activate!
Huh, didn't use to say that when I activated the Wild Gloves. It's almost as if someone rewrote it because they didn't like how it originally sounded. It does sound better though.
Maul was too busy exchanging blows with Golemon to bother noticing this.
"Maul Attack!"
"Rock Punch!"
The Chuchidarumon and Togemon were mopping up the Shamanmon near them with little trouble, as the Rookies even in the previously large numbers were still a bunch of Rookies, versus experienced Champions.
"Mud Ball!"
"Needle Spray!"
Seeing that his forces were granting him the swift victory that he had expected, Fugamon started to act more wildly in anger. Leomon had to concentrate more on blocking his blows that trading his own.
"Gaaaah! Why aren't you dipsticks slaughtering them? They're a bunch of damn cacti, mud bears and centaurs. You are goblins! Evil Hurricane!"
The attack was too wide for Leomon to block completely, and a bunch of his allies were caught unawares, including J-Mojyamon.
"Uggh, damn he's angry."
Noticing his boss' rising tempter, Golemon chose to abruptly cut his battle short.
"Sulfur Plume!"
Releasing poisonous gases in Grizzlymon's direction, Golemon left the bear to deal with his lack of clean air so as to attend his boss.
"Fugamon."
"What, Golemon?! Why aren't you fighting that stupid bear anymore?! Why isn't anyone doing what I tell them to do?!"
"Fugamon, are men captured the fleeing townsfolk that live on the outskirts minutes ago. We no longer have to fight here, when we already have new workers for the mines."
Calming down slightly, Fugamon stopped swinging his club at everything in sight. He actually appeared sane for a moment.
"Right, right. The slaves. But I want at least one dead opponent today, or someone's doing hard labor with the slaves as punishment."
"As you wish."
Getting a group of Gotsumon to come with him, Golemon singled out J-Mojyamon and motioned for them to attack. J saw them out of the corner of his eye, and quickly reacted.
"Jungle Bone!"
Tossing his bone, it connected with two Gotsumon and knocked them back, but the other started the assault without them.
"Crazy Crusher!"
The ground beneath J-Mojyamon rocked back and forth; knocking the Digimon onto his back and leaving him wide open for the leaping Golemon's attack.
"Rock Punch!"
Diving down onto his poor victim, fist first, Golemon had a hint of a smile creep onto his face as the Digimon that was J-Mojyamon broke up into data and was absorbed by him. Leomon saw this and roared with anger, aiming his next attack at the lieutenant.
"Fist of the Beast King!"
Striking Golemon, the rock Digimon fell back, but shrugged off the attack quickly, chuckling a little as he did.
"Fire no work, made of stone. Stupid kitty."
Growling, Leomon started to charge at the Digimon, but Fugamon got in the way and knocked him back with his own attack.
"Evil Hurricane!"
The gale took a bit longer than expect to knock back the enraged lion, but it eventually did, to Fugamon's delight. Suddnely, he clapped his hands, and four Shamanmon brought out his throne as Golemon came up in front of him.
"This was a treat, if not for the lack of your friends dying. But now that at least one has, I can retire to my lovely mine, where all your friends like the SandYanmamon, or the Hagurumon, and even a couple of Palamon are busy chipping away for my benefit."
"What makes you think I'm just going to let you leave?"
"Well you're rather typical for not just letting me go, so Golemon, if you don't mind."
"Sulfur Plume!"
The assembled militia of Hyperlink Town was held back by a huge cloud of poisonous gas. Leomon tried to exit through on the other side, so that he can confront Fugamon before he escapes, but found that he could stand the gas long enough to make it through. Retreating to the side where his allies were, he cursed softly while landing on his knees, before de-digivolving back to Elecmon.
Colin, having made sure that Kumamon was okay first, went over to Shin to see if he was all right.
"That Digimon was a close friend, wasn't he?"
"J-Mojyamon was a good a friend as they come. I will personally see to it that Fugamon is reduced to junk data for this."
Knowing that Shin was angry, but wanting to clear something, the lead Centarumon came up to the angry Elder.
"They mentioned a mine, Elecmon. What do you think they could be after in the middle of a desert?"
Pausing for a moment to think, he answered.
"I have an idea, but it doesn't matter. Because we're going to beat them before they dig up so much as a sail and I will personally bury the lot of them with their find."
"And free the captives, right?"
"Of course. But to do that, we need to destroy their captors first."
FanAuthor's Note: Really sorry about the long break, was pretty busy with some personal things. I won't make any promises I can't keep in the foreseeable future, but I'll try to make the next chapter happen sooner rather than later.